Willsboro/Northern New York; March 6, 2025. Early results of field trials of hazelnuts, chestnuts, and cold-hardy pecans funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) to evaluate them as new commercial crops for regional farmers are now posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

The 3 nut crops and 4 high value fruit crops: juneberry, elderberry, honeyberry and aronia are part of the NNYADP’s “New Commercial Fruit and Nut Crops for Northern New York” project. The trial are hosted at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York.

Commercial growers in each of northern New York’s six counties: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence are cooperating producers in the research.

American hazelnut and hybrid hazelnut varieties were planted at the Willsboro farm in 2023 and 2024, followed by three lines of chestnut in 2024, and cold-tolerant pecans added in the fall of 2024. These nut crops are nutritious foods, for example, hazelnuts are high in protein and oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid.

According to the early results report, all three nut species established well with one of the American hazelnut seedlings producing the trial’s first nuts in April 2024.

The high-antioxidant, high-phytonutrient “super fruits” in the NNYADP-funded trials represent a significant economic opportunity through sales of fresh fruit, u-pick, and value-added products. For example, elderberry is a highly imported product into the U.S., indicating an opportunity to develop a locally-grown domestic market. Aronia fruit production in North America has grown into a multi-million dollar industry with several dozen unique value-added products.

The NNYADP established New York’s first juneberry nursery of commercially-sold and wild-collected varieties at the Willsboro Research Farm in 2013. Aronia plantings were added in 2017, honeyberry in 2018, and elderberry in 2021.

“With enough growing seasons now, we are now seeing the natural stressors that impact established crops and beginning to develop best practices for managing pest, disease, and climate-related impacts,” notes Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D.

In 2025, the research team is testing strategies to encourage regrowth after a spongy moth infestation in the juneberry commercial and wild-collected plots and in the honeyberry trial in 2022. The ornamental varieties of juneberry were not defoliated by spongy moth in 2022 and in 2024 flowered profusely.

Visiting Honeyberry Expert Offers Insight
In 2024 University of Saskatchewan Professor Robert Bors, Ph.D., a renowned honeyberry plant breeder, toured the NNYADP honeyberry plots at the Willsboro Research Farm. The trial experienced a marked fruit yield decline between 2021 and 2023. In 2024, yield rebounded with some varieties, but the low yield trend continued with lines with and without branch dieback.

“Dr. Bors suggested that low organic matter in the soil of the trial plots might be impacting productivity, and noted that the use of black landscape fabric weedmat might be causing damage to the honeyberry’s shallow root system on summer high heat days here,” Davis explains.

The 2025 research plan includes nutrient management applications to enrich the soil to encourage honeyberry plant growth and replaces landscape fabric with wood chip mulch for weed management.

Heavy rains in 2023 and 2024, Japanese beetles in 2024, and a fungus that thrives in wet soils and was identified in 2024 may all have played a role in poor vigor and branch dieback in the aronia trial planting in 2024. In 2025, the research team is adjusting irrigation management and applying milky spore powder for Japanese beetle management.

Elderberry growth slowed by heavy deer browsing in 2023 rebounded with protection measures installed in 2024. This young trial planting has not yet matured to produce fruit.

Project collaborators include SUNY Plattsburgh Biology Associate Professor and botanist Michael Burgess, Ph.D., Cornell University Horticulture Professor Marvin Pritts, and New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission Agronomist Myra Lawyer working with the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

The 2024 and previous years’ “New Commercial Fruit and Nut Crops for Northern NY” results reports are posted at www.nnyagdev.org. Updates on this NNYADP research are regularly presented at the annual Willsboro Research Farm Field Days and grower events held statewide.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

February 14, 2025, Lake Placid, New York.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has announced the results of a project evaluating and validating the feasibility of small-scale processing and bottling the saps of aspen, beech, and birch trees as shelf-stable beverages.

“This project responded to maple producers’ hesitancy to invest in tapping trees other than maple due to the low sugar content in the sap of other species of trees. This research explored the option to bottle the sap from other tree species without the expense required to concentrate the sap and suggests that it is indeed feasible for small-scale production,” explained project co-leader Aaron Wightman.

The research team of Wightman and Adam Wild, co-directors of the Cornell University Maple Program, and Cornell Food Scientist Catherine Monserrate, Ph.D., adapted a small-scale bottling method for maple sap recently developed by the Cornell Maple Program for use with sap collected from beech, birch, and aspen trees at the Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid. Their processes used equipment commonly present in many sugaring operations in northern New York. The processes produced a thermally pasteurized refrigerated sap beverage and an acidified and thermal pasteurized shelf-stable product.

Wightman notes that the procedures developed for processing and preserving the sap of maple trees as a bottled beverage need to be adapted to fit the different composition of each species of tree to make a shelf-stable sap beverage.

This NNYADP-funded research may be the first report of the composition of aspen and beech sap. The project identified the content, composition, and pH of the beech, birch, and aspen species’ sap. An earlier NNYADP-funded project by Wild determined the mineral composition of beech syrup and served as a precursor for this new research.

Photo:  Beech syrup samples made (left: with reverse osmosis, right: without RO) during a 2022 NNYADP project evaluating whether beech saplings would yield enough sap for profitable syrup production to potentially provide regional maple producers with another forest-based product. A new grant in 2024 has evaluated the bottling of beech and other tree saps. Photo: Adam Wild

This 2024 project is also believed to be the first validation of the carbohydrate pectin in beech sap. The trial process was successful in isolating and removing the pectin from the beech sap.

Taste Test
A taste test with 100 panelists at the Cornell Sensory Evaluation Center assessed consumer response to the acidified and pasteurized aspen, beech and birch tree sap beverages produced by the trial, judging for flavor, sweetness, acidity, and likeliness to purchase the sap beverages.

“Best by” and Production Steps
An overview of production steps for producing a refrigerated pasteurized sap with a “Best by” date of 5 days and for producing shelf-stable acidified sap with estimated potential for storage of longer than 6 months are in the “Developing Alternative Tree Sap Beverages” report posted under the About: NNYADP Projects by Year: 2024 projects tab and under the Research: Maple, Beech and Birch Research tab at www.nnyagdev.org. Extension fact sheets for bottling tree saps and isolating and reducing pectin content in beech sap will be available at cornellmaple.com soon.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets.

 

Congratulations to Michael Murphy, an NNYADP Farmer Committee member who has recently been elected to serve on the New York Farm Bureau Board of Directors. Michael is the production manager at Childstock Farms in Franklin County. The farm produces seed potatoes, kale, turnip greens, cilantro, and collards. In his youth, Michael helped his family operate a dairy farm and raise beef. He holds an agricultural science degree from Cornell University and is a Certified Crop Advisor. Michael has been a member of the Franklin County Farm Bureau since 2020; a NYFB member for 10 years.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is pleased to have Michael among the more than 80 farmers from across our six-county region helping to prioritize research for the diverse farming sectors of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.

January 13, 2025. Morning Ag Clips recently ran an article on “Manure Nutrient Variability During Land Application on Four New York Dairies” written by researcher Quirine M. Ketterings and her research team. The article recognizes NNYADP among the grant sources supporting the work. Click here to read the article.

Click here to read the NNYADP research report on the “value of manure” trials in 2023. 2024 report is expected to post in February.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Willsboro, New York; December 2, 2024.  High tunnels help farmers to extend their growing seasons and sales, but crop selection and timing are critical decisions for production success and economic return. High tunnel crops research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) produced mixed results for fall-winter greens production and income opportunities for growers in New York’s northern climate region.

The research on direct-seeded greens grown from mid-September to early March produced data on which varieties had the best chance for high yield and high quality. The hoped-for news that the varieties could produce well for both extended fall and late winter (January-March) sales was only half fulfilled.

“The data suggest that the greens we trialed may be most worthwhile as a late fall crop to extend the season into November and December for the holiday markets, late-season community supported agriculture shares, or wholesale markets. The greens could be terminated in December rather than keeping the crop overwinter for regrowth in February and March,” says Cornell Cooperative Extension Vegetable Specialist Elisabeth Hodgdon, Ph.D.

Hodgdon, and CCE Agricultural Business Development and Marketing Specialist Lindsey Pashow conducted trials of 20 varieties of salad greens in an unheated tunnel at the Willsboro Research Farm, Willsboro, New York. The trials included arugula, kale, and Asian mustards, lettuce, and spinach.

Crop yields across the trials in 2022 and 2023 were higher for fall harvest than in winter. The all-varieties fall harvest yield total from the high tunnel from October 19 to December 5, 2022 was 109 pounds, 11 pounds in mid-March 2023. The fall harvest total yield from September 5 to October 30, 2023 under cooler, cloudier conditions was 49 pounds; 14 pounds harvested in February to March 4, 2024.

The enterprise budget calculated for the trial in 2023 used an average yield of 0.17 pounds per square foot of tunnel space at $10 per pound grown in a 20-foot by 48-foot tunnel. Selling price average was based on grower interviews. Cost calculations showed the most expensive inputs as compost, seed, and harvest labor. The net result was a loss of $1,424.91. The project team, however, suggests considerations that may offset the risk of loss with the winter-grown tunnel crops, including mechanized seeding, harvest, and lower cost soil amendments.

“While the winter season data suggest these greens may not be profitable for overwintering production, some growers note that extended-season greens can serve as a ‘loss leader’ to add value to winter CSA shares, allow the farms to retain their labor force, and maintain their wholesale markets year-round,” Pashow points out.

Project collaborators included Cornell Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D., and Cornell Vegetable Program Specialist Judson Reid.

The complete results for these trials in 2022 and 2023 are posted under the heading “Alternative High Tunnel Crops for Northern New York” at www.nnyagdev.org under About/NNYADP Projects by Year.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.